Monster Mike

I decided to go back to work and applied for posts slightly below my qualifications to make it easier to transition.

I skimmed through the listings. There was a number of positions. The first was for an Agency which was well located. I phoned and was told I could be interviewed today. Okay. That seemed promising.

I drove my daughters to their junior high, then continued to the Agency.

Parking was right across the street so it all seemed to be working in a positive manner.

I came across the street and entered the building. It wasn’t what I expected. Seemed rather tacky with bad decoration, but what caught my focus was the frightened looking receptionist.

As I approached, she sprang up and hurried me to another section and requested I wait in the Interview room.

I went into another room that needed some uptick. I stood a moment but as the room was empty, and I didn't feel like sitting by myself, went back into the hallway.

The walls were full of awards and old photos. One of the photographs caught my eye, as the subject seemed familiar.

The female workers who saw me standing in the hall were nervous;

“The Chief says you should wait in the Interview Room..” they begged, with terror in their voices as if expecting a Zombie apocalypse.

“Who is that...?” I asked; pointing and the photograph.

“That’s the Ch...Mr. Morse...”

My blood ran cold. I shouted; “I have to leave...” as I rushed from the room. Behind me came almost hysterical calls and begs, “No! You can’t leave!” but I wasn't stopping.

I raced through the building, onto the road, thinking...”Monster Mike! Monster Mike!”

When I began Primary School I saw this big horrible boy go behind another child and push him down. The big boy began to laugh; “You see me? You see me?”

That big boy was Monster Mike.

In the Cafeteria he would grab food from the other kids, or pour ketchup into their desserts, and laugh. I was terrified of him and did everything to avoid him, even eating my lunch in the bathroom.

I spent every minute of every day locating him, and avoiding him.

My mother knew something wrong, asked me, and I told her. She immediately became active in the P.T.A., involved in most school affairs, and was frequently at school.

I was 'safe’ but still on guard; so afraid of Monster Mike.

When I left Primary I was happy my mother sent me to an All Girl’s School. I continued my education into University, married, had my girls. When they started school became what my husband called, a 'Stay at School Mom'.

I spent every free moment at the School my children attended, doing every possible volunteer task so that I would be on spot just in case there was a Monster Mike.

Monster Mike was not that much bigger than the other kids, just more brutal. He was an evil twisted creature without compassion.

He'd grown up, finished school, gone to work, became a Boss who paid his victims.

The voices of those employees, their fear of him proved Monster Mike hadn't changed at all. He only found a new 'school yard'.

As I stood on the corner of the road I imagined going back to that office, confronting him, but I didn't have a reason.

I wasn't going to work for him. His bullying had made me a P.T.A. stalwart. My kids would not suffer the school yard bully because I, as my mother, even more than my mother, was there.

I got into my car and drove back home to be there. At least a little longer.